24 GRANT facilitates on-farm research
Haynes’ ranch pretty compact. When it does rain, the dense soils are less able to absorb the moisture. “After talking to the
Fossens, I have transitioned to no-till methods to increase organic matter and reduce soil compaction,” explains Haynes. A grant from the BC
Agriculture and Food Climate Action Initiative’s Farm Adaptation Innovator program helped Haynes conduct an on-farm research project to see if he could improve soil function by interplanting tillage radishes while maintaining a satisfactory forage yield. “We wanted to see if the radishes would help with water infiltration so when it does rain, the water will go in further and last longer,” explains Roussin. Half a 60-acre field was planted with spring rye, oats and peas, and tillage radish, while the other half had no radish. Roussin coordinated the trial and Catherine Tarasoff, of Thompson Rivers University, and Agrowest Consulting provided support for research design and standardized measurements. Tarasoff says the radishes
served two purposes. Radishes have long roots
COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • DECEMBER 2019 nfrom pg 23
well as adds organic matter. “We found that [infiltration]
where the radishes had been planted was almost twice that of the control area,” says Tarasoff. “But it’s not a silver bullet. That hardpan has taken years to build so it will take a number of plantings of radishes to break it up.” The yields in both plots
were comparable. “We found that the yields on both the rye, oats and peas alone and the radish mix were very similar,” says Tarasoff. However, radish planting
reduced weed growth. “The radish plantings had only half as many weeds and a more consistent yield,” she says.
That’s good for the long- term health of the field, Tarsoff points out. “If the weeds are choked out, they will have less to seed the next year,” she says.
Low risk On-farm research doesn’t
Catherine Tarasoff, left, and Rachael Roussin demonstrate an infiltrometer that measures how long it takes the soil to absorb water. TOM WALKER PHOTO
that are able to punch through the hardpan layer of
soil, she explains. When the roots rot in the fall, they leave
a kind of tube in the soil that allows water infiltration as
require a lot of risk, Tarasoff notes. “You can start with an acre just to see if something works,” she says. “And you always need an adjacent plot without the experiment so that you can compare results.”
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